Free the Woman
by wonderwoundedhearers
Summary: He had uttered three words which had sealed my fate for the rest of eternity. O/s companion to Crimson Starlight. Jane/OC.


_**For those who would like a little clue-in to how I see my Viorica…**_

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_**And, yes, my Jane is a make-up-free Taylor Momsen...**_

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_Just take out the spaces (: You know the drill._

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><p>I had done nothing as she was dragged away. I had done nothing as Victor sealed her fate. I had done nothing as I watched him walk from the top-side of the pit amidst cat-calls and whistles and <em>smirks<em>. I had done nothing as he left to…to…

And it had been at _that_ thought that I had burst.

They had tried to pin me down, stop me from rolling heads and crushing carcasses, attempting to push me back into the pit as I tore limbs clear from torsos.

That had been how they had found me. My masters come for their lost queen.

Felix had been the first to breach the tunnel, clearing a path through the carnage and fresh kills around me as I fought off the last. Alec had been next. He had dealt a blow so fierce to a stray dog that its face broken clean from its skull.

He had been emotional. I had had Bella to save.

We had worked as a team, Felix's bulk a good asset as we forced our way through the stragglers and others working their way down from the main underground tower. They had been decimated.

Beyond there, as we had spiralled our way upwards, it became apparent a war was waging.

Every moment had been filled with blood and gore, snarls and screams, and a heaviness, perforating everything.

_Bella_, that had been my mantra and another had answered my call.

Her scent had been easy for me to distinguish, so polluted with wolf blood, so similar to my own, and I had found her, in Marcus' arms.

He had been covered in the excess of battle, stained with blood and brain matter, and standing over the mangled body of none other than Victor.

Bella had been saved, and the continuation of my immortal life had had to be called into question. I had failed her.

My master had been kind – _too_ kind, and far too forgiving – and then he had uttered three words which had sealed my fate for the rest of eternity.

_Free the woman…_

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><p>Her face was covered in her long black hair, tangles raining down over her cheekbones. Her shackled arms were thin, her body visibly malnourished and torturously abused, and her skin was barely covered by the slashed rags dangled across her.<p>

She was crying.

I had no idea what to do with someone _crying_. Crying was so very human.

I broke the padlocks keeping her chained in half – they were not even 'vampire-proof,' as Bella called it. The woman was so very weak.

She cried for what felt like a long time, tearlessly and without breath between sobs, and I waited for her to put her unchained arms down.

Her sobs died off eventually, and it was then that I realised that she was holding onto the stone at her head, her nails and fingertips gouged deep.

"Your name," I said, crouching to look into her face.

Her eyes were black and piercing. "V-Viorica."

I nodded. "I am Jane. You must accompany me to leave here, or you will be treated as hostile."

She was tired. She needed blood.

"You will be fed," I told her.

She stared back at me blankly. "You mean…food?"

"Blood, yes."

Her face was full of confusion. She had no idea what she was.

"Just come with me, Viorica," I said, offering my hand to soothe her.

Once it had been offered, it was taken quickly. She gripped my wrist with her long, slender fingers as if it were a lifeline.

I took her up, through the hallways and passageways to the tower. She went slowly, shuffling behind me awkwardly and painfully, and I resisted a wince with every step. There was a nagging feeling eating at me, tugging and pressing relentlessly.

We met my masters above, among the carnage that had been wrought.

Master Marcus looked at me strangely, his brow creasing for less than a single moment before it smoothed out in surprise and something akin to wonder.

Viorica stole back my attention with a weak little hiss, cowering behind me. She was staring at my masters, scared and tugging at my wrist.

"_Please_…"

"They rule us. You will show your respect," I told her gently. "In return, you shall be fed."

Her eyes met mine, and that…_gnawing_ intensified.

"Yes…Jane."

I was lost.

* * *

><p>Days later, after returning to Volterra with both harmed queens safely within its walls and after Viorica's first feeding, I brought her to my room.<p>

Her face was fuller now she had been feeding regularly, as any newborn should, and the similarities to Sulpicia had slowly faded away into something that was…_right_.

Her face was slim and fine, like any immortal's, but her chin was a perfect curve below a full mouth, and her cheekbones were soft lines that underscored her bright red eyes. Her eyes were…well, rather beautiful. They reminded me of Bella's human eyes, wide and darkly framed.

Her hair had smoothed out into long waves and flicks with hints of curling at the tips, and the rest of her body had bloomed similarly.

I'd already guessed we were mates. It only remained to see if _she_ knew.

We sat closely on my bed, side-by-side, and I decided to ask her the only way I knew how. Bluntly.

"Do you understand what we are?"

She smiled shyly. "Vampires, yes?"

I winced slightly. "Yes. Vampires. But…do you understand _this_?" My indicating between us only made her frown in confusion.

"Do you mean…being friends?" She tried to clarify, eyebrows raised expectantly.

"No." I sighed. "I mean…this feeling between us…this…_link_."

We had spent hardly two minutes apart. Did she not see that–

"You mean, my love for you?"

I had never blinked so hard or so fast in my life, immortal or otherwise. She was looking at me with the same hopeful expectancy as before, as if she hadn't just said…

"What did you say?"

She smiled, no shyness in sight. "My love for you."

"Love?"

"Yes. The instance you said my name, I felt it. It was as if I've loved you forever, as if the feelings were old and grown instead of brand new," she told me, shifting even closer.

There was only one thing I could say in reply. "But…my age–"

"You are very grown up to me," she said. "I think I am younger, in fact, but the man…he…he made me look older."

I took her hand comfortingly, dragging her away from those thoughts. "You know this…this means a very long time."

"Years and years." She smiled. "I have them. Apparently."

Viorica had still yet to get used to being a vampire, though she had taken to hunting like…well, Bella. She was graceful and lithe and…

"Would you mind if we…"

I looked up at her, eyebrow raised. "If we…?"

She was shy again. "If we kissed."

"Oh."

I hadn't ever kissed anyone before. Except for Alec on the cheek, and my human mother. I could barely remember kissing her chin and being too small to reach any higher up as I sat on her lap.

"I haven't kissed anyone either," Viorica told me, bringing me out of my thoughts and lacing our fingers. "I thought it might be…nice."

I gave her a short nod, though I was feeling far less brave than it made me seem. She made me nervous, and happy, and so many other confusing things when she understood me like this.

She licked her lips. I resisted licking mine.

She tensed. I moved.

Her eyes stayed open. Mine absently fluttered shut.

Her hand held my waist. Mine held her chin and jaw.

And then our lips met.

Her hands came up to hold my face. Mine wrapped around her.

Her eyes shut gently. Mine snapped open.

She leaned into me. I braced to take the movement.

Her mouth opened. My tongue licked her lips.

We were made of opposites, connecting together to work so perfectly, and as we both drew away from each other, eyes rapidly firing back and forth as we took in each other's face, I just knew we were both exactly where we were meant to be.

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><p>'<em><strong>Tonight, Tonight' – The Smashing Pumpkins<strong>_

_Time is never time at all,_

_You can never, ever leave,_

_Without leaving a piece of you._

_And our lives are forever changed,_

_We will never be the same._

_The more you change,_

_The less you feel._

_Believe, believe in me,_

_Believe, believe…_

_That life can change,_

_That you're not stuck in vain._

_We're not the same,_

_We're different,_

_Tonight._

_Tonight, tonight,_

_So bright._

_Tonight, tonight._

_And you know you're never sure,_

_But you're sure you could be right,_

_If you held yourself up to the light._

_And the embers never fade,_

_In the city by the lake,_

_The place where you were born._

_Believe, believe in me,_

_Believe, believe…_

_In the resolute urgency of now._

_And if you believe there's not a chance_

_Tonight._

_Tonight, tonight,_

_So bright._

_Tonight, tonight._

_We'll crucify the insincere,_

_Tonight, tonight._

_We'll make things right,_

_We'll feel it all,_

_Tonight, tonight._

_We'll find a way to offer up the night,_

_Tonight._

_The indescribable moments of your life,_

_Tonight._

_The impossible is possible,_

_Tonight, tonight._

_Believe in me, as I believe in you,_

_Tonight, tonight._

_Tonight, tonight,_

_Tonight._


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